Claudio had his first miss step, and it seems to be a curse with all of the coaches we had in over 20 years (except for Capello that one season, and then back to insisting on 4-4-2 and his Lima fetish).

you see, the match before last we played 4-2-3-1 and did very well, in fact we've played the best football we've played in a very long while, so what do we do the match after it while facing a Piątek-less Genoa that dropped points in 6 straight prior?

what Ranieri decided to do was go back to his 4-4-2, and there was so much wrong with that decision and what sealed our fate was that the man stuck by that decision even as it proved that it wasn't working.

as for player choices, SES and Zaniolo are not wingers. Pellegrini started as a playmaker/shadow striker and had a woeful match (Zaniolo didn't get to play there and Pastore who had an impressive showing playing that role last match was kept on the bench) and was taken off for Schick, who was even more useless and played a role in the goal we conceived. Cristante too had a very bad game, his decision making process took forever resulting in dangerous situations and the moment that illustrates how he didn't want to be on the pitch was when Fazio had the ball and Nzonzi, covered by two men, pointed towards Cristante instructing Fazio to pass the ball there, only for Cristante to point at Nzoniz! and despite this he was left on the pitch for the duration of the match.

player choices can be fixed by either substitution or tactical approach after the fact, however Ranieri stuck to his guns through out the match even though it was obvious that our attack was playing too close to our midfield for us to create any real danger, even though we had more ball possession, and that our wingers were not really wingers to effectively create width. and after Zaniolo was taken off for Kluivert, and with SES doing his best, there was still mostly no one in the box to benefit from the crosses.

sure we were unlucky that Pelligrini and Dzeko did not convert their chances, but we were also lucky to get away with a point. personally I would've taken Cristante off for Kluivert in the second half and moved Zaniolo behind Dzeko and Pelligrini back next to Nzonzi, shifting back to 4-2-3-1 and worked from there, alas CL is lost.

also, there's no doubt that SES is Roma's best player in this disaster of a season and should have his contract extended and wage demands met.

asroma

Formerly known as "Of wolf and Man" because of XT's awesome new security measures.

Claudio had his first miss step, and it seems to be a curse with all of the coaches we had in over 20 years (except for Capello that one season, and then back to insisting on 4-4-2 and his Lima fetish).

you see, the match before last we played 4-2-3-1 and did very well, in fact we've played the best football we've played in a very long while, so what do we do the match after it while facing a Piątek-less Genoa that dropped points in 6 straight prior?

what Ranieri decided to do was go back to his 4-4-2, and there was so much wrong with that decision and what sealed our fate was that the man stuck by that decision even as it proved that it wasn't working.

as for player choices, SES and Zaniolo are not wingers. Pellegrini started as a playmaker/shadow striker and had a woeful match (Zaniolo didn't get to play there and Pastore who had an impressive showing playing that role last match was kept on the bench) and was taken off for Schick, who was even more useless and played a role in the goal we conceived. Cristante too had a very bad game, his decision making process took forever resulting in dangerous situations and the moment that illustrates how he didn't want to be on the pitch was when Fazio had the ball and Nzonzi, covered by two men, pointed towards Cristante instructing Fazio to pass the ball there, only for Cristante to point at Nzoniz! and despite this he was left on the pitch for the duration of the match.

player choices can be fixed by either substitution or tactical approach after the fact, however Ranieri stuck to his guns through out the match even though it was obvious that our attack was playing too close to our midfield for us to create any real danger, even though we had more ball possession, and that our wingers were not really wingers to effectively create width. and after Zaniolo was taken off for Kluivert, and with SES doing his best, there was still mostly no one in the box to benefit from the crosses.

sure we were unlucky that Pelligrini and Dzeko did not convert their chances, but we were also lucky to get away with a point. personally I would've taken Cristante off for Kluivert in the second half and moved Zaniolo behind Dzeko and Pelligrini back next to Nzonzi, shifting back to 4-2-3-1 and worked from there, alas CL is lost.

also, there's no doubt that SES is Roma's best player in this disaster of a season and should have his contract extended and wage demands met.

I'm pretty sure we played 4-2-3-1. But it was weird to drop the formation and players that actually play a nice game of football last weekend and end up with what we can be thankful for a lucky draw. What a bunch of useless wankers.

I'm pretty sure we played 4-2-3-1. But it was weird to drop the formation and players that actually play a nice game of football last weekend and end up with what we can be thankful for a lucky draw. What a bunch of useless wankers.

the lineup would suggest a 4-2-3-1, but on the pitch they played a flat 4-4-2. and it is what Ranieri knows and likes and falls back on to, it is why he wants to play both Dzeko and Schick together while declaring that Schick is a central forward. this happened once before where the formation announced on screen was 4-2-3-1, while in reality it was a flat 4-4-2 and we didn't play well then either.

and when will we declare Schick's experiment a bust and admit that he is Iturbe 2.0?

asroma

Formerly known as "Of wolf and Man" because of XT's awesome new security measures.

Probably end up at Inter so we should get Spalletti back with lack of options. If nothing else, we play much nicer football with him.

for a while and then the bottom falls of his team and a period of mediocrity follows. he's also not an upgrade on Ranieri, especially in man management and handling of the press, and I'm not a huge fan of Caludio.

asroma

Formerly known as "Of wolf and Man" because of XT's awesome new security measures.

Roma fighting for an EL spot with three matches to play. Our mediocrity finally caught up to us. It will be interesting to see how the club responds. We don't need tacticians without hunger and anger.

Primo, my man, it's part of a coach's job to instill that hunger and anger in the players. the tactics and line ups are also very important. so yeah, you do need a tactician.
I don't know about you, but in the little time Ranieri had with the squad I've seen the rebirth of a lot of players and the development of others as well as better harmony. the only player who stayed as bad under Ranieri as he was under EDF is Cristante.

what I'm trying to say is that our squad isn't mediocre are all, but our management's decision to try and sign upcoming young coaches from Enrique to Di Francesco, never bore fruit. at least not over a long period.

asroma

Formerly known as "Of wolf and Man" because of XT's awesome new security measures.

Monchi already resigned and went back to Sevilla, where he might shave the beard, keep the sideburns and bring back the Gargamel look.

my opinion of his tenure as the director of football with us can be summed as "meh" in regards to transfers and disastrous in his choice of EDF as coach. this is in hindsight of course, so I don't blame the management for hiring him as he was supposed to be this super DS with a lot of clubs after his services.

asroma

Formerly known as "Of wolf and Man" because of XT's awesome new security measures.

I hate to see legends leave to the MLS where I will certainly never watch them again. I'd rather see de Rossi and other such players go play for smaller serie a sides where I think they can still help a small team and provide leadership.

Was really not emotionally prepared for this one. I mean, this really hurts - a lot. I'm not even sure I can follow this club much longer hearing DeRossi say how he would have liked to carry on in Rome but not for the disgusting hedge funder owners & Baldini. A sad day, one that marks the end of the Bandiera, now all the rest is business, boring business.

De Rossi: I didnít reply to his question fully, but its related to your question. Romanismo is something thatís counted for a lot with us. Itís something important and itís within steady hands, because Lorenzo and Alessandro can continue this heritage. They wonít be asked to imitate me or Francesco because that would be the biggest mistake in the world. With their own personality, they have to continue bringing forward that belonging to the shirt. But I have to say thereís also a Bryan Cristante who came from... [to Cristante] Where were you? From Bergamo, or from the North in any case. Heís not a Romanista. But I would want another hundred guys like him, who put the soul into training and on the pitch.

I canít say Roma needs Romanisti. Roma needs professionals more than anything. It just so happens that with Lorenzo and Alessandro we hit the jackpot. To win doesnít take one or the other, it takes building a team. Even if maybe other teams can allow themselves to build something a little stronger because of the state of our mercato, but I think the club is working towards changing that approach. Or at least I hope so.

(De Rossi leans back to take a sip of water but another thought comes to him).

Iíve mentioned Cristante but I could have also named so many others here.Ē

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